LOWELL -- The city's Retirement Board voted 4-1 Monday afternoon to strip former License Commission Chairman Walter Bayliss Jr. of his $876.96 annual pension, which, if it withstands an appeal, means the 68-year-old Bayliss will also lose his health insurance through the city.

The board's attorney cast the decision as one in which the board acted to rectify Bayliss being improperly admitted to the city's Retirement System in 2006.

But Bayliss called the decision retaliation for his legal challenge to City Manager Bernie Lynch's removal of him from the License Commission last year and said he will appeal the board's vote.

The board first discussed issues surrounding Bayliss' retirement soon after Bayliss settled his lawsuit against the city last September and resigned from the License Commission.

In an effort to back up his claim, Bayliss noted that Lynch's appointee to the board, Chief Financial Officer Tom Moses, helped lead the charge to strip him of his pension, as did Auditor Sheryl Wright, another city employee. Wright brought the issue to the board's attention.

"I would not have been as upset if they walked out of the room," Bayliss said. "There was definitely the appearance of a conflict of interest."

Lynch denied he had anything to do with the board's investigation or decision on Bayliss' pension.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Lynch said, adding that the board's decision must have been on the review of information before them.

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Wright made the motion to strip Bayliss of his pension and it was seconded by Moses.

Wright, Moses, Chairman Joseph Mahoney and Michael Brennan voted in favor of the motion to rescind Bayliss' retirement. Mahoney is a former city firefighter and Brennan is the sessions clerk in Lowell Superior Court's civil session.

Bill Desrosiers, a former city fire chief who participated in the meeting by telephone, was the lone vote in opposition.

During the board's December meeting, Wright and Moses voted to strip Bayliss of his pension, while the other three members voted in opposition.

The primary reason given for the board's decision Monday was that Bayliss was granted his retirement in 2006 despite never having resigned from his position as a license commissioner.

Retirement law requires that an employee officially resign from his or her current position before retirement is granted. While receiving a pension, Bayliss continued serving on the license board and receiving compensation for it until he was removed by Lynch last year.

"There has to be a break in service and in this case there was not one," said Michael Sacco, the Retirement Board's attorney.

Bill Desrosiers: "A good city employee who donated many years of service to the city is going to get the raw end of the deal."

Prior to the vote, Moses and Wright highlighted how evidence obtained by the board, including from Lynch and Bayliss, indicated Bayliss never resigned from the License Commission.

Wright said Bayliss never asked for a reappointment until his term expired, which was in 2008.

Brennan and Mahoney declined to comment after the meeting.

In a recent letter to the board, Bayliss said on the day he handed in his retirement papers in 2006, he was told by the Retirement Office he could stay on as a license commissioner because it was no longer a full-time job.

"It is their mistake and I have to pay for it," said Bayliss, a Vietnam veteran.

Bayliss, who has suffered two heart attacks, said he retired because he could not afford to lose his health insurance and would be able to maintain it as a retiree.

Sacco did not dispute what Bayliss had been told, but said the board could not overlook the fact Bayliss did not resign from the License Commission when he retired even if it was a result of "a misunderstanding or misinformation."

Desrosiers said he thought the board's review of Bayliss' pension was "off-base" and was only brought about because of Bayliss' legal challenge of his License Commission removal.

"If he had succumbed to the demands from the city manager and resigned from his position, this never would have come before us," said Desrosiers. "A good city employee who donated many years of service to the city is going to get the raw end of the deal. It is just tragic."

Sacco, who emphasized Bayliss is suspected of no wrongdoing, said the board has to act on information brought before it to correct any errors.

"The board does not take these decisions lightly," said Sacco.

Bayliss, who was not present at Monday's meeting, would have to appeal the board's decision to the state's Contributory Retirement Appeal Board within 15 days of receiving the board's decision.

"(Lynch) might think he is hurting me, but that does not mean he can go silently into the night," Bayliss said in promising his appeal.

Gerry Dunn, a 78-year-old city retiree, attended Monday's meeting and expressed his disappointment with the board after the vote.

"He went out of his way to help veterans," Dunn, a Korean War veteran said of Bayliss. "This is a shame."

"What does that have to do with this?" responded Mahoney.

Asked why he thought the board voted the way it did, Dunn told The Sun he thinks it was personal, pointing to the fact Moses and Wright work for the city.

City Councilor Rita Mercier said she was sad to hear that Bayliss would lose his pension and health insurance, especially because she thought he was guaranteed to keep his health insurance as part of his lawsuit settlement with the city.

"After all the things he has done for the city and veterans, this is the thanks he gets," Mercier said.

City Councilor Joseph Mendonca said he did not believe the settlement protected Bayliss' health insurance.

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